Hydrocarbon burner



HYDRocARBoN BURNER Filed 001'.. 20. 1937 warrig/5.

45 with a fuel inlet pipe 9 through which any suit- I 5o ranged at`four levels and scattered generally cmss Sectional are 0f, euh such'sp ,iS S0 50 Patented Nov. 7, 1939 f y y l .v

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE mmRocAnoN BURNER James L. Breese, Santa Fe, N. Mex., assigner to i Oil Devices, Santa Fe, N. Mex., a limited-partnership ofv Illinois .V

Application ctober 20, 1937, Serial No. 169,960

1 claims. (cl. 15s-91) i My invention relates to an improvement in `apertures herein shown as upwardly and inhydrocarbon burners and has for one purpose wardly inclined whereby a plurality of jets of secthe provision of an improved vburner with 'a ondary air are admitted into -the space immaximum turn-down, whereby such a burner mediately above the mixing zone defined lby the 5 may operate at aiminlmum oil consumption durlower portion of the member 6; The location 5 ing periods when a heating result is not desired, and arrangement of the primary and secondary but when a pilot flame is necessary to prevent air apertures may be widely varied. the necessity of relighting. l I2, I3 indicates a pair of. intersecting vertical Another purpose is the provision of meansfor` rpartition members which intersect along the cenpreventing down drafts or eddy currents in vthe tral vertical axis I4 of the member 6 in the form 10 so-called pot type of hydrocarbon burner in of Ithe device herein shown. Whereas the size which a mixing zone is defined byl a wall or walls and proportion of the parts may be greatly varied, provided with primary and secondary air inlet what I illustrate is a burner divided into a pluapertures located at different levels. rality of separate spaces or segments a, b, c, d, l Another purpose is .theprovision of an i'm'- each of said segments being bounded in part by u proved multi-stage burner in which the' same the circumferential wall Swith'its primary and. burner may be readily burned at varying heating secondary lair inlet apertures. It will be undereffects, stood that the members I2, I3 are sulciently Other purposes will appear from time to time loosely fitted into the member 6 so that the in the course'of the specification and claims. liquid hydrocarbon fuel may flow below the lower 20 I illustrate my invention more or less diagramedges of themembers i2 and I3 and thus passy matically in the accompanying drawing wherein: from segmentto segment. I illustrate the pipe Figure 1 is a .vertical axial section through a 9 communicating with the segment a as shown in burner; l Figure 2. Figure 2 is a section through the line 2 2 of It will be realized that whereas I have here- 25 Figure 1; with shown` and described a practical and oplFigure 3 is a similar section through a variant erative device, nevertheless many changes might form of my device; and y be made inthe size, shape,- number and dis- Figure 4 is a similar section through a still position of parts without departing from lthe further variation of myedevice. l spirit of the invention and I wish, therefore, that 30 Like parts are indicated by like symbols` my showingbetakenasinabroad senSediagram-g. throughout the specification and drawing. matic.

Referring to the drawing, I generally indicates Whereas I have described andy shownlherein an outer member. or drum provided with a bottom burners of 'the' hydroxilation" type in which 85 2 having a central air inletaperture 3. The primary and secondary air apertures occur in the 35 outer drum or member ofthe stove may be Sup- Walls, it will be understood that Ido notI wishfto ported for example by means of a plurality of be limited thereto. Asegregation o fyprimary and legs I. 5 indicates a circumferential inwardly secondary apertures may not be necessary or a4 extending ange adapted to receive the mixing secondary air supply may be admitted at a level 40 Chamber DIOPer. I illustrate the m1111118 Chamber altogether above the top of the mixing chamber. 40

as including a generally cylindrical wall member A150, my method 0f graduated heating may be 5 having an upper ange 7 Wherebyt mary be applied to burners other than the hydroxilation supported upon the flange 5. 8 indicates a downtype wardly convex bottommember in communication 'Ihe use and operation of my invention areas l follows; l e

golld hydrocarbon may be admmed to the One purpose for employing a plurality of spaces h mam of bounded by partitions instead of a single open prlsryneaxiibpgriinslrloiiegeiin sl'uxiwn asyar- .interior 1S that. by emPlUYin Smaller Spaces the uniformly throughout the major portion of the Small that .an up current is maintained. due 1Z0 height of the member s. It win be understood the chimney effect, which keeps eddy currents c f .e that the lowest of these apertures is abovethe air from descending toward the bottom of the e maximum level of the fuel admitted through the space. It is highly desirable to prevent downpipe 8. Il indicates a row of secondary air inlet drafts or down eddie: which break up the c har- 75,

and, being relatively narrow with respect to its acteristic mode of two-stage combustion obtaine by burners of the type herein shown.

When downdrafts are prevented, the air penetrating through the primary apertures lli mixes with the hydrocarbon vaporized by the heat of combustion to form a primary mixture. This primary mixture in turn receives its final air supply through the secondary air apertures Il, and burns with a clear flame andwithout y height, substantially isfree from eddy currents from above, due tothe chimney effect caused by its relatively small cross-sectional area. Many variations in detail may be made. As shown in Figure 4, I may employ simply a small Ispace around the oil entrance as in the space dened by the member I2cand the wall S. I can maintain a flame without sooting or carbon deposit by burning a very small amount of fuel.

If I divide the entire space into four, as shown in Figure 2, I can maintain a pilot flame in one section with a very small fuel consumption. Broadly, if a given size of burner burns a minimum of say four gallons 'in twenty-four'hours, one sector is able to burn a minimum of one gallon in twenty-four hours.

In practice, a very small flow of the liquid fue is delivered to the particular space opposite the oil entrance, in the case of Figure 2 the space a. Combustion having been initiated, an up-draft is established due to the relatively narrow cross section of the space c. If only a small volume of fuel is delivered, it is evaporated beforeit can flow into the adjacent spaces a, b, or d.

On the other hand, as soon as more oil than the first space c can evaporate is admitted, the oil will seep into the adjacent spaces a, b and d. As soon as this happens, combustion takes place either around the edge where the members IZ,

yso

I3 contact the side wall 6, or over the top of the Walls I2, I3, and the so-called process of hydroxilation then takes place in all of the spaces, with the primary air apertures I0 supplying the primary air for the final combustion, which takes place at ,or above the secondary air apertures Il. Each of the spaces is free from down drafts or down eddies, because of the above mentionedl If the user wishes to turn down the flame and reduce the heating effect, and maintain a mere pilot llame, he simply reduces the fuel ilowf through the line 9 by operating any suitable valve 9a. Combustion then ceases shortly in the spaces a, b and d but continues in the space c. Owing to the abovementioned long, thin form of the space c, the fuel flow can be reduced to a vary small minimum, without causing down drafts or eddies. s

In the form of Figure 3, instead of dividing. the space within the burner into four segments I divide it into six. 'I'he operation, however,is the same, namely the unitary deliveryY of the oil through the passage 9 to one of the spaces within the burner, with the oil flowing therethrough into other spaces beneath the lower edges of the intervening vertical walls or baffles.

Figure 4 simply divides the housing vinto two spaces, the small one being dened between .the

member I2c and the adjacent portion of the wall and serving as the pilot light when a small flow of oil is maintained. .V

All the forms herein shown have this in common, that the oil is delivered at some common `point and passes through an initial chamber before it can reach a second chamber or additional chambers for combustion. When a small flow of oil is maintained, the oil is all burned in the first cham er. This in effect provides a pilot light for the r t of the device. As soon as more oil is being supplied to the vinitial chamber than can be vaporized and burned therein, the additional unvaporized oil flows through into the additional compartments and is vaporized and burned there.

On a maximum'ow of oil there is full comb tion in all of the various compartments.

I claim:

1. In a hydrocarbon burner, a mixing cham er including a circumferentialside wall having formed therein primary and secondary air apertures, a bottom for said mixing chamber, generally vertical partition means dividing the interior of said chamber into a plurality of separate spaces, each of said spaces having a horizontal cross sectional area sufliciently small in relation to the height of such space substantially to prevent down drafts or eddies during combus-A tion, and means for directing a hydrocarbon into one of said spaces, said partition means being adapted to permit excess hydrocarbon to flow into the other spaces.

2.- In a hydrocarbon burner, a mixing chamber, partition means for dividing said mixing chamber into a plurality of separate generally vertically walled mixing spaces, portions of the walls of each such space being provided with primary and secondary air inlet means, means for directing a hydrocarbon into one of said spaces, the horizontal cross sectional area of each space being sufliciently small in relation to the height of. such spacevsubstantially .to prevent `down drafts or eddies during combustion, said `partition means being adapted to permit excess hydrocarbon to flow into the other mixing spaces, when the ow of hydrocarbon to the rst mentioned space exceeds the vaporization rate in said space.

3. In a hydrocarbon burner, a mixing chamber includinga side wall having air apertures, a bottom for said mixing chamber, generally vertical partition means' dividing the interior of the perforate walls for such chambers, each such` chamber having a horizontal cross section suflciently small in relation to the height of its space substantially to prevent down drafts or eddies during combustion, means for feeding a liquid fuel to oneof said chambers, and means for permitting fuel in excess of that consumed in said chamber to ow to one or more of the otherl chambers.

a hydrocarbon burner, a. mixing cham- -ber including a generally cylindrical exterior wall having a plurality of yair apertures therein, and a sufficiently small in relation to its height sub.

plurality'of additional imperforate walls adapted to divide the interior of the chamber into a plurality of separate compartments, each such compartment having a horizontal cross section suiiiciently small in relation to its height substantially to prevent down drafts or eddies during combustion, means for feeding a liquid fuel to one of said compartments, and means for permittingthe fuel in excess of that consumed in said com-- partment to ow to one or more ofthe other compartments. i y

6. In a hydrocarbon burner, a mixing chamber including a generally cylindrical exterior wall having a plurality of air apertures therein, and

`a plurality of additional imperforate walls adapted to divide the interior of the chamber into a plurality of separate compartments, each such compartment having a horizontal cross section stantially to prevent down drafts or eddies during combustion, means for feeding a liquid fuel to one of said compartments, and means for permitting the fuel in excess of that. consumedl in said compartment to iiow to one or more of the other compartments,l said imperforate walls con- `uid fuel tothe bottom of -said mixing chamber at a'predetermined point, and intermediate-up- Awardly extending wall means. located within said circumferential wall and dividing said mixing chamber into a plurality of separate compartments, including wall means" surrounding a space in communication with said means for delivering liquid fuel, whereby said compartment is positioned initially to receive all of the oil delivered to said chamber, and meansfor permitting oil unvaporized in said initial compartment to flow intoan adjacentcompartment or compartments whenv an excess supply of oil is delivered to said initial compartment.

J. L. BREESE. 

